The present invention relates to a fluid/particle separator unit for separating particles from a fluid flow and to a suction cleaner fitted with such a separator unit.
Many types of fluid/particle separators are in use in industry and in domestic apparatus for various purposes, perhaps the simplest being the filter. The common industrial suction cleaner, for example, employs motor-driven impellers to draw air through a hose, the free end of which can be placed on or near a surface to be cleaned, into a container provided with a filter. Sufficient working air flow must be developed by the impellers to draw in dust and grit together with the air, the dust and grit being trapped by the filter and retained in the container, while the cleansed air is expelled to the atmosphere.
After some time the container inevitably becomes filled with dirt and this must be emptied out before cleaning is continued. It has been found, however, that the filter can become clogged with dust even before the container is full, so that the working air flow developed by the impeller gradually falls off and the cleaner no longer cleans efficiently. In fact, when used to collect extremely fine dust, such as talc or the dust generated by the masonry cutting tool described in U.K. Pat. No. 1105308, the filters of even powerful industrial vacuum cleaners can become clogged after as little as 30 seconds of use.
All types of filters used in a multiple of other instruments and industrial plants from air conditioning units to chemical separators, suffer from this same disadvantage of clogging and require cleaning or replacement at regular intervals. Alternative separators, such as centrifuges and electrostatic separators, are far more costly and, like filters themselves, are not suitable for all purposes.
An object of the present invention is to provide a separator unit for use in many of the fields of fluid/particle separation in which filters and other apparatus are currently employed, which is relatively inexpensive to produce and which will achieve efficient, continuous separation of fine particles from a fluid even after prolonged periods of use.